Printing-machine.



W. M. BACON.

PRINTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 27, 1912.

Patented May 6, 1913.

WITNESSES: & Q

W. M. BACON.

PRINTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 27, 1912.

Patented May 6, 1913.

5 SHEETSSHEET 2.

: IVVEIVTOR.

WITNESSES: 3, daf I v ATTORNEYj.

W. M. BACON.

PRINTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 27, 1912.

Patented May 6, 1913.

5 SHEETE-SHEET 3.

lV/TNESSES- W. M. BACON. PRINTING MACHIINE. APPLICATION FILED MAY 27, 1912.

1,060,578. Patented May 6, 1913.

5 SHEETSSHEET 4 & Q Q

. w I N lV/TAESSES: LVVENTOR.

W. M. BACON.

PRINTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 27, 1912.

Patented May 6, 1913.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 5.

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W47 mix MW%MZ@ ATTORNEYZS.

ll TED T res WILLIAM M. BACON, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR T OSCAR H. HYDE. OF ST.

- LOUIS, MISSOURI.

PRINTING-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

, Patented May 6, 1 913.

Application filed May 2'7, 1912. Serial No. 699,968.

To all whom'it may concern: I

having novel Be it known that I, VVIDLIAM M. Bacon, citizen of the United States, residing at St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, have in vented a. new and useful Printing-Machine, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in printing machines especially designed for the production of poster or bulletin work on metal, wood or cloth and comprising a reciprocating carriage, a rotatable cylinder, and an ink fountain, and an object of said invention is to provide means for effecting a unison of movement of said carriage, printing cylinder and fountain.

A further object is to provide a novel means for regulating the pressure or weight of the printing cylinder relative to the surface printed upon, in order to avoid damage to the printing form or type, which is usually of comparatively soft composition,

and to effect product-ion of exceptionally clear, sharp work.

A further object is to afford a machine means for regulating or varying'the pressure of the printing cylinder, relative to the material printed upon, without altering the distance between the printing form carried by said cylinder and said material.

Another object consists in the application of power-driven mechanism to operate. the entiremachine and effect certain automatic movements of parts thereof.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent on consideration of the following portions of this specification, in which like numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views, Figure 1 being a side elevation of the complete machine, certain parts of its frame-work or housing being broken away that the operating parts may be more readily appreciatedyFig. 2 an end elevation of the machine of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 a top plan view of the complete machine; Fig. 4 a sectional top plan view, diagrammatic in character and on enlarged scale,-of the mecha nism, including variable speed devices,

located in the bed of the machine for driving the carriage which reciprocates beneath the printing cylinder; Fig. 5 a top plan view of certain parts of the belt-shifting apparatus; and Figs. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 detail views, on slightly enlarged scale, of certain important elements of this carriage 19 is eff invention which shall be hereinafter pointed out and described.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, 1 designates a base or housing in which is arranged the motion-imparting mechanism diagrammatically shown in Fig. l. Said mechanism may, for present purposes, be said to be substantially the same as that found in certain types of metal planing machines, the same being public property, and comprises, broadly speaking, a major shaft 2 carrying a gear 3 which meshes with a gear at carried upon shaft 5, the latter carrying another gear 6 which rotates a gear 7 ,upon shaft 8, the sleeve 7 of gear 7 being toothed to drive bull-gear 9 carried by shaft 10. Fig. 4: further depicts, for the sake of completeness, a variable speed mechanism comprising a shaft 11 driven through the engagement of gears 12 and 13, this shaft carrying a number of other gears which can be shifted, in a manner well known, to affeet the speed of the entire motion-imparting mechanism.

description of these parts is, however, considered not necessary, as my invention does not reside therein, and for the further reason that the construction and operation of this and other types of motion-imparting mechanism is very well known. Shaft 2 is alternately driven in opposite directions through the agencyof belts 14 and 15, the same moving in opposite directions and alternately shifted from loose pulleys 16, 16 to fixed pulleys 17 17 through the automatic movement of any common type of belt-shifter,

the same being actuated by a rod 18.

The desired reciprocal movement of the cted through the engagement of gear 9 w th a rack 20 disposed substantially at the center of the under surface thereof, while upon the edge of said carriage is arranged a rack 21 adjacent either end of which is a lug 22. Suitably mounted upon a shaft 23 is a gear 24 and sprocket 25, said shaft also serving as the fulcrum for a lever 26 carrying gears 27 and 28, the latter engaging the toothed edge 29 of cyl- Further or more detailed inder 30. Gear24 meshes with rack 21 and gear 27, and the latter, adapted to be raised or lowered through the provision of an elongated slot 26 in lever 26, imparts motion to gear 28. T rough a depending arm of lever 26 is projected a rod.31, the same carrying a coil spring 32 normally com- "pressed between the edge of said lever and a member 33, the latter being fixed in a threaded sleeve 34 terminating in a wheel 35 and working in a threaded aperture 36 5 disposed in a stationary flange or standard 37, the same projected from the bed of the machine. Obviously the prime object in providing the spring-controlled lever 26 and mounting-certain gears thereupon is to insure the constant engagement of gear 28 with edge 29 of cylinder 30, wherebyreciprocal rotation of said cylinder is made certain. irrespective of its occasional vertical movement as hereinafter described; Sprocket 25 operates a second sprocket 38 'through the medium of a chain 39, sprocket 38 being secured with the shaft 40 of a roller 41 working in a trough 42, these parts constituting what may be termed the inkfountain.

Projected through the bed of the machine at a point substantially in line with the shaft 30 of a cylinder 80 is a shaft 43, the same carrying a cam-member 44, an arm 45, and a 'rod 46 which is connected with rod 18, as best shown in Fig. 2. Riding upon the edge of cam 44 is a roller 47 revolubly mounted in the forked extremity of a rod 48, the opposite extremity of this rod being projected within a member 49 and terminating at point 48 opposite a cushion of soft metal 49*. Pivotally connected with a rod 48 is an arm of a lever 50, the latter being fulcrumed at 51 and its other armpivotally connected at 52 with a rod 53 which terminates in an inverted U-shaped member 54. The ink-fountain aforesaid is mounted upon a carriage 55 which moves (upon tracks 56, member 54 being adapted to engage a pin 57 on said carriage to the end that said fountain may be moved into or out of contact with cylinder 30 according to the impulse given rod 48 by cam 44. Contributing to the movement of the fountain, just described, is a ratchet 58 provided upon the sleeve of sprocket 25, the same being operated by a dog 51 aflixed to a plate 60, as shown in Fig. 13.

Arranged between cylinder 30 and member 49 is a housing 61 in which is retained an extremity of a lever 62, said lever designed to carry the weight of cylinder 30 and being fulcrumed at 63 on a bar supported in a standard or frame 64 arising from the base of the machine. Through the opposite extremity of lever 62 is projected a threaded rod 65 about which are disposed, above and below said lever, helical springs 66, 67,

spring 66 being normally compressed be-- tween said lever and a bearing surface 68, while-the tension of spring 67 is regulated by the upward or downward movement of a member 69 aflixed to rod 65. Obviously, movement of rod 65 is effected by revolution 65 of wheel 70' secured therewith, while the tension of spring 66' is regulated through the upward or downward movement of surface .68 eflected. through revolution of wheel 71 whose threaded shank 7 2 engages a threaded aperture 73 provided in a portion 74 of the frame of the machine. It being of importance to ascertain the extent of movement of lever 62 effected by readjustment of the tension of springs 66, 67, or to guard against any movement whatsoever of said lever through said readjustment, an index is provided which may comprise a pointer 7 5 affixed to said lever which moves over a scale 76 secured tothe framework of the machine or in other suitable location.

In operation, the printing form being mounted upon cylinder 30 and the material to be printed being fed to carriage 19, the movement of shaft 2 through the agency of belts 14, 15, serves to effect reciprocal movement of saidcarriage. When the carriage has traversed, in either direction, the bed of the machine one of lugs 22 will contact with arm 45 and so effect decided move- 'mentof shaft 43, this movement of said shaft resulting in the partial revolution of cam 44 and the lateral movement of rod 46. Rod 46 being thus moved actuates the belt-shifting mechanism through the agency of rod 18, while the described movement of cam 44 raises or lowers (as the case may be) rod 48 which results in raising or lowering cylinder 30 and the simultaneous positive movement of the ink-fountain (as before mentioned) through the medium of lever50, rod 53 and member 54. Thus I am enabled to ink the type or form while the same revolves with portance is attached to the fact that the entire inking mechanism can be instantly thrown out of operation simply'by lifting member 54 out of contact with pin 57 Through the provision of levers 26 and 62, constructed and arranged as above-described, I am 'enabled to minutely adjust the pressure of the printing cylinder relative to the material printed upon and thus avoid the damage to the form of type commonly encountered in earlier types of ma-' chines, whereby the production of unusually clean, sharp work is insured. Furthermore, an added important function of lever 62, the springs cooperating therewith, and the index aforesaid lies'in the fact that by these means the resistance of cylinder 30 to upward movement may be increased or diminished without entailing any alteration or desirable without departing from the spirit of the invention and the scope of the following claims.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is '1. A machine of the character described comprising a vertically movable cylinder, levers, and'a plurality of springs, an arm of each of said levers supporting the shaft of said cylinder, the opposite arms ofsaid levers normally retained between said springs, and means for regulating the pressure of said springs relative to said levers, whereby the resistance of said cylinder to upward movementmay beregulated and the pressure of the printing form minutely adjusted relative to thematerial printed gears disposed substantially beneath and a apted to drive said cylinder, and automatic means for moving said levers in response to the vertical movement of said cylinder, whereby rotation of the same is insured.

3. A machine of the character described comprising a reciprocally movable carriage, a revoluble cylinder disposed thereabove, an ink-fountain, levers, and a plurality of springs, an arm of each said levers supporting the shaft-of said cylinder, the opposite arms of said levers normally retained between said springs, means for vertically moving said cylinder, mechanism adapted to reciprocate said fountain, devices for effecting the simultaneous operation of said means and mechanism, and means for, regulatin the pressure of said springs relative to said levers, whereby the' resistance of said cylinder toupward movement may be regulated and the pressure of the printing form minutely adjusted relative to the material printed upon.

4. A machine of the character described comprising a reciprocally movable carriage, racks thereupon, a vertically movable cylinder disposed thereabove, an ink-fountain,

levers, pinions adapted to engage said racks, and a plurality of gears carried by said levers, said pinions" adapted to impart the motion of said racks to said gears, certain of said gearsdisposed substantially beneath and adaptedto drive said cylinder, means for vertically moving said cylinder, mechanism adapted to reciprocatesaid fountain, devices for effecting the simultaneous operation of said means and mechanism, and automatic means for .moving'said levers in response to the Vertical movement of'saidcylinder-,wherehy rotation of the same is insured.

' WM. M: BACON.

Witnessesf MAYBELLE SMALL, W. KEANE SMALL.

co ies or this patent may be. obtained in:

five cents each, by addressing the "Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0." 

